Locking device for hangers



J y 13, 1 5 E. s. WRIGHT ETAL 3,194,523

' LOCKING DEVICE FOR HANGERS Filed Nov. 29. 1963 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig .l. Mfimz M a g I I3 l3 INVENTORS Edward 5. Wright 8- Jumes D. Scunnell y 1955 E. s. WRIGHT EI'AL 3,194,523

LOCKING DEVICE FOR HANGERS Filed Nov. 29, 1963 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f .3- Fig. 5. f .3- Fig.6. I

, INVENTOR Edward $.Wriqht 8 United States Patent 3,194,523 LOCKING DEVICE FOR HANGERS Edward S. Wright, Mount Lebanon, and James Donald Scannell, Monroeville, Pa., assignors to Flaw-Knox Company, Pittsburgh, 1221., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 326,736 6 Claims. (Cl. 248- 54) This invention relates broadly to hangers and more specificially to means for locking hangers, in a selected, fixed position. This invention is particularly useful in locking constant support hangers for pipe and the like such as shown and described in copending United States patent application of Edward S. Wright, Serial No. 250,664 filed January 10, 1963.

In a piping system employing constant support hangers, there are occasions when it is desirable to lock the hanger against movement. For instance, in hydrostatically testing, chemically cleaning out, erecting or repairing a pipe line, conditions of overload or underload generally occur and it is advantageous if the hangers can be locked in place during such temporary conditions to prevent their movement to either their upward or downward limits, perhaps violently, with possible damage to the hangers or the line itself.

Heretofore, there have been attachments that could be bolted to the hanger during such periods to hold it in a locked position, but these have not only been quite inconvenient in that they must for safetys sake be installed and removed for each occasion but also because they require the use of tools to install and remove them and the inconvenience of being stored when not in use with the accompanying danger of loss or misplacement during storage of the various parts of the attachments.

We have invented a locking device for hangers that forms a permanent part of the hanger which is simplicity itself in structure and operation and is perfectly safe both when in use and when not in use.

We provide for constant support hangers and the like having at least two members pivotally attached to each other and swingable with respect to each other, a travel locking device comprising at least one of said members having a permanently fixed arcuate portion carrying a multiplicity of tooth elements and at least another of said members pivotal therewith carrying tooth engaging means selectively engageable in a locking relationship with the tooth elements of said arcuate portion at a plurality of positions whereby said swingable members are releasably held in a selected, fixed relation with respect to each other.

The fixed arcuate portion may comprise a tooth carrying arcuate plate secured to its pivoting member or may be an arcuate opening therein having tooth elements formed along the edge of said opening.

Preferably, the tooth engaging means comprises a toothed member axially mounted adjacent said fixed arcuate portions and movable along said axis into and out of engagement with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion. Further, said toothed member being rotatable on said axis whereby the tooth elements thereof are swingable into and out of registry with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion.

We further preferably provide that said toothed member be eccentrically mounted on said axis whereby when out of engagement, the tooth elements of said toothed member are normally disposed out of registry with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion to obviate any possibility of inadvertent engagement.

Other details, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description of certain preferred embodiments thereof proceeds.

3,194,523 Patented July 13, 1965 In the accompanying drawings, we have shown certain present preferred embodiments of the invention in which-- FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a constant support hanger incorporating our locking device having a portion broken away and certain parts shown diagrammatically;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view of FIGURE 1 as viewed from the left;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 showing the locking device in inoperative position;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary end elevational view of FIGURE 3 as viewed from the left;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of a constant support hanger incorporating another embodiment of the locking device having certain parts shown diagrammatically;

i FIGURE 7 as viewed from the left.

Referring to the drawings and initially to FIGURES 1 and 2 thereof, we illustrate the locking device as it would be used on a constant support hanger of the Wright type earlier referred to in the specification, although it should be understood that this locking device is not limited in application only to the Wright type of hanger, but that it may be applied as well as other types of hangers. As shown, the hanger comprises a load member 10 and a sup port member 11 pivotally attached as at pivot axis 12 whereby said members are swingable with respect to each other. As further shown members 10 and 11 have side members 1414a and 15-l5a respectively which are tied together or held in assembly by various cross members 16-17 and 1849 respectively. As is diagrammatically shown, support member 11 is connected to a supporting structure 13 at one end through cross member 18 and load member 10 is connected to the pipe or load 20 through cross member 16. Further, members 10 and 11 are connected to opposite ends of a spring means 21 through cross members 17 and 19. Spring means 21 is also shown diagrammatically as it normally includes a large cannister which also acts as the central part of cross member 19 and would obscure the drawing if shown. It will be understood from the foregoing that as the load moves up and down, members 10 and 11 pivot with respect to each other in adjusting to such movement. It will be further understood that the hanger spring provided is for a certain load range, and that when that load is excessively altered, as is often the case in hydrostatic testing or chemical cleaning of the pipe, these pivoting members Will be swung thereby in all likelihood to the extreme limit. To avoid this, we provide a locking device that holds the load and support members in a fixed relation which relation ordinarily would be their regular relative relation under the normal load which they are designed to carry or have been carrying.

As shown in FIGURES 1 through 4, in one preferred embodiment the side member l5 of support member 11 has an arcuate portion 22 fixed thereto which may be, as shown, simply an arcuate plate welded thereto. Arcuate portion 22 carries thereon tooth elements 23. A tooth engaging means 24 is mounted on side member 14 of load member It) adjacent arcuate portion 22. As there illustrated, tooth engaging means 24 comprises a toothed member 25 rotatably and axially slidably mounted on a hub member 26 which in turn is fixed or secured to side member 14. Toothed member-25 carries tooth elements 27 which will mesh with tooth elements 23 of arcuate portion 22 in such a way that the tooth carrying members are '2 a locked against rotational movement when these teeth are engaged with each other. In the case illustrated, the row of teeth 27 of engaging means 24 has an internal arcuate configuration that matches the external arcuate configurationot the row of teeth 23 in arcuate portion 22, which when engaged effectively bindsthe two together against any rotation.

It should be noted that toothed member 25 is eccentric or eccentrically mounted on hub member 26 so that when it is not in engagement the oil-center weight of same will by gravity cause it to rotate on hub member 25 and be normally disposed at such times with eccentric portion 28 hanging down as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 and thus maintain teeth 2'7 out of registry with teeth 23 so that they cannot be engaged. This effectively prevents any meshing of the teeth or locking engagement of the device from occurring through'inadvertence.

From the illustrations and the foregoing, it should be clear that to lock the hanger against movement one need only rotate toothed member 25 around hub member 26 until its teeth 2'7 are in registry with teeth 23 of arcuate portion 22 and then slide toothed member 25 along hub member 26 until teeth 23 and 27 are thoroughly engaged.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that if upon swinging toothed member 25 to align teeth 27 with teeth 23 that the respective peaks and valleys of the teeth disengaged, engaging means 54 drops into reduced portion are slightly out of registry that they can easily be brought into registry by taking up or slacking off on the spring tension of spring means 21 with the adjustment feature generally provided on such spring means. This causes or permits the load and support members to rotate slightly with respect to each other until the teeth are in registry.

It will also be understood that with engaging means 24 and arcuate portion 2-2 in engagement that the pipe line may then be tested or whatever without any danger to the hanger. After the line is clear and back to normal usage, toothed member 25 isrslid out of engagement and when released will rotate by gravity to an-out of registry position which will'prevent it from accidentally moving into engagement. If, when ready to move toothed member 25 out of engagement, one finds there has been a slight load change sufiicient to bind toothed member 25 in engagement with arcuate portion 22, then the spring pressure here, too, may be slightly adjusted as earlier mentioned to release the binding pressure being applied and thus enable one to easily disengage toothed member 25 from arcuate portion 22.

Although the means just described more-than adequately provides a reliable and safe locking device, preferably, like means 22a-Z4-a are also provided for the other side of the hanger with respect to side member 1511 as shown in FIG- URE 2. The advantage of this is that not only does it multiply the safety factor, but, moreover, it avoids any tendency of twist in the hanger when locked only on one side during said extreme loading conditions.

Other variations within the scope of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art. For example, the

parts could be reversed with the arcuate portion secured to 2 3 earlier described, comprises a toothed member 35 having tooth elements 36 and being rotat'ably slideably mounted on an axial cross member 37015 load member 38 adjacent arcuate opening 30. Here, too, toothed member 35 is eccentric or eccentrically mounted to avoid inadvertent engagement and whendisengaged eccentric portion 39 hangs down as shown in FIGURES 7 and '8.

engage the locking device the operator. simply rotates en-' gaging means 34' until teeth 36 of toothed member 35 are ali ned with teeth 33 of a'rcuate opening 30 (using the spring means adjustment as earlier described ifnecessary), and then slides engaging means 34 axially along cross member 37 into opening 3% to engage the teeth. The procedure is reversed to disengage the locking device. disengaged stop position for engaging means 34. When 41 and thus is prevented from inadvertently falling off the end of cross member 3'7 and becoming'lost. Here, too, although not necessary to safe and reliable operation, we preferably provide a locking device for each side of the hanger for the reasons earlier described.

While we have shown and described present preferred embodiments of this invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied Within the scope of the following claims.

We claim: e V p i. In constant support hangers and thelike having at least two members pivotally attached to each other and swingable with respect to each other, a travel locking device comprising at least oneot said members having a permanently fixed arcuate portion carrying a multiplicity of tooth elements and at least another of saidme-mbers pivotal therewith carrying tooth engaging means selec-v tively engageable in a locking relationshipwith the tooth elements of said arcuate portion at a plurality of positions 7 whereby said swingable members are releasably heldin a selected fixed relation with respect to each othe'n 2. A travel locking device for constant support'hangers and the like as claimedin claim 1 wherein said tooth engaging means" comprises :a toothed member axially mounted adjacent said fixed arcuate portion and. movable along said axis into and out of engagement with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion. i

3. A travel locking device for constant support hangers and the like as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tooth engaging means comprises a toothed member mounted on an axial member adjacent said fixed arcuate portion, said the'load member and the tooth engaging means secured to the support member. Also, it is obvious that when employing the locking device on both sides of the hanger, as is preferred, a single toothed or pawl type tooth engaging means could be employed in place of teeth 27. with the pawl on one side preventing rotation in one direction and the pawl on the other side preventing rotation in the other direction.

Still another embodiment is illustrated in FIGURES 5 through 8 wherein corresponding parts have been given corresponding reference numbers with a prime. Referring to these figures, it is clear that the variation here is that instead of a tooth carrying arcuate plate welded to the support member, an arcuate opening 3-0 in the side toothed member being rotatable onsaid axis and movable along said axis whereby the tooth elements of said toothed member are swingable'into and out of registry with the tooth elements oisaid fixed arcuate portion and movable into and out of engagement with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion. r

4. A travel locking device for constant support hangers and the like as claimed in claim it wherein said tooth engaging means comprises a toothed member mounted on an axial member adjacentsaid fixed arcuate portion, said toothed member being rotatable on said axis and movabie along said axis wherebythe tooth elements of said toothed member are swingable into and out of'registry with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion and movable. into and out of engagement with thetooth elements of The reduced portions 41 of ends 49 serve as a normally disposed out of registry with the tooth elements of said fixed arcuate portion.

5. A travel locking device for constant support hangers and the like as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fixed arcuate portion of at least one of said members comprises a tooth carrying arcuate plate secured thereto.

6. A travel locking device for constant support hangers and the like as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fixed arcuate portion of at least one of said members comprises an arcuate opening therein having tooth elements formed along the edge of said opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,967,687 1/61 Glusic 248-4 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN CONSTANT SUPPORT HANGERS AND THE LIKE HAVING AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS PIVOTALLY ATTACHED TO EACH OTHER AND SWINGABLE WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER, A TRAVEL LOCKING DEVICE COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE OF SAID MEMBERS HAVING A PERMANTENTLY FIXED ARCUATE PORTION CARRYING A MULTIPLICITY OF TOOTH ELEMENTS AND AT LEAST ANOTHER OF SAID MEMBERS PIVOTAL THEREWITH CARRYING TOOTH ENGAGING MEANS SELECTIVELY ENGAGEABLE IN A LOCKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TOOTH ELEMENTS OF SAID ARCUATE PORTION AT A PLURALITY OF POSITIONS WHEREBY SAID SWINGABLE MEMBERS ARE RELEASABLY HELD IN A SELECTED FIXED RELATION WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER. 